Double trouble: Oxford Drive, 15th Street bridges to be under repair at same time

June 06, 2013|Dan Hartzell | The Road Warrior

Q: Recently signs were erected indicating the Oxford Drive Bridge over Little Lehigh Creek in Allentown will be closed for construction beginning Monday. There is no mention of detours, or how long traffic will be affected. City officials told me it's a PennDOT job that will continue through August, and that northbound traffic will be detoured to Fish Hatchery Road, Cedar Crest Boulevard and then to Hamilton Street. This will require northbound vehicles to turn left across the path of southbound traffic, which will be maintained on the bridge. Interesting that this outage will occur during the time the 15th Street Bridge continues to be out of service.

— William Krill, Allentown

A: That's correct, William, the Oxford Drive Bridge is a relatively new model, built in 1960, and structural repairs were made in 1980, but 33 years down the road from there, it needs another workover, according to PennDOT.

The bridge isn't in great condition, but neither is it among the more than 4,500 structurally deficient PennDOT bridges in the state, making the decision to repair it during the 15th Street Bridge closure curious.

PennDOT spokesman Ron Young said the Oxford Bridge couldn't wait for a year or two because by then, it could have been in bad enough shape to require a more costly, more time-consuming full replacement. In addition, the money allocated to Oxford might have been detoured to another road or bridge project if not spent in timely fashion, he said.

In the view through PennDOT's windshield, Heim Construction Co. of Pottsville secured the contract to rehab the Oxford span for $367,670 — way less than the sticker price for demolition and replacement. After 12 weeks' worth of motorist inconvenience, its structural integrity should be restored for as far down the road as anyone can see.

I dunno. The concept is as sound as the beams supporting a brand-new highway bridge: refurbish the structure now, sparing a costly replacement later (which, by the way, should have been done for the former 15th Street Bridge about 20 years ago). I can't say the Oxford bridge would not have sunk to replacement status in a year or two, but it might have been worth the chance; the earmarked money could have been steered to one of the multitude of deficient spans. And actually, chances are that only one year's delay would be required, as the city's 15th Street Bridge replacement is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.

But PennDOT in its wisdom mapped out this course, and it will be another major pain in the tailpipe for Allentown-area motorists, nearly 10,000 of whom who daily drive this section of Oxford Drive. Oxford links Lehigh Street with Hamilton Street, and becomes 24th Street less than a half-mile north of the bridge. Much of its traffic is generated by the nearby Lehigh Street interchange of Route 309/I-78.

The shuttered 15th Street Bridge crosses the Little Lehigh about 1.75 miles to the northeast, as the crow flies. Two other vehicular bridges span the creek in between, but they're narrow little things accessed by narrow little Lehigh Parkway North and Lehigh Parkway East — roads through a city park that clearly are not designed for heavy traffic.

The Parkway East Bridge in particular is unsuitable for lots of traffic, and it's already sustaining extra volume from the 15th Street Bridge closure. As city resident Gregg Heilman has pointed out, both parapets (outer walls) on the north side of the Parkway East Bridge were damaged by passing vehicles at least eight months ago, and the sad-looking mangled corners remain. Apparently the damage has not affected the structural integrity of the bridge, which has a 3-ton weight limit.

Given all that, PennDOT is detouring northbound Oxford Drive motorists to the west, on Fish Hatchery Road, past the fish hatchery, across a more accommodating bridge over the creek, and on to a relatively new, wide intersection at Cedar Crest Boulevard that features traffic signals and turn lanes in all directions.

That's not to say Cedar Crest access will be easy. The sprawling central complex of the region's biggest employer is located there, prompting traffic from thousands of hospital visitors and employees that normally pushes capacity to its limits, particularly at hospital shift-change and other rush-hour periods. Cedar Crest, in fact, carries a heavy traffic load not only near Lehigh Valley Hospital, but pretty much everywhere between Chestnut Street in Emmaus and Walbert Avenue in South Whitehall Township.

I think we're in for an extra rough ride in the entire area between the Lehigh Street and Cedar Crest Boulevard interchanges of 309/78 for the rest of the summer, fellow warriors. Short-term restrictions from seasonal PennDOT and municipal road-maintenance projects on other parts of the road network are likely to add to the commute complications.

PennDOT hopes to complete the Oxford repairs by the end of August, before the Labor Day weekend, to beat both the holiday-traffic rush and the start of the school year, Young said. Swain School is on 24th Street not far to the north, and a portion of Oxford south of the construction site is part of LANTA's bus routing for South Mountain Middle School.

As always, unforeseen speed-bumps could push the schedule farther ahead on Calendar Road.

Road Warrior appears Mondays and Fridays, and the Warrior blogs at mcall.com. Email questions about roadways, traffic and transportation, with your name and the municipality where you live, to hartzell@mcall.com, or write to Road Warrior, Box 1260, Allentown, PA 18105-1260.